THE ESSENES 185

to reflect, than with any materialistic realization of Israel's
esehatological hopes.

It may be suspected l that they professed a dualistie system
of philosophy, according to which God was the personification of
Good and matter was Evil. The soul, they thought, was immortal,
having its origin in the most rarefied portion of the ether, and
was imprisoned in the body until such time as being released
it would soar once more into the heavenly heights.2 This
doctrine was, of course, in flat contradiction to the monistic
teaching of orthodox Jahwism, which held that, since the soul
existed before the body, it necessarily survived it, having its
owrn life independent of its fleshly vesture.

Unfortunately, we do not understand how the Essenes con-
ceived of the soul. To what degree, for instance, did they hold
it responsible for human actions, and to what extent was it
self-determined ? Again, when they spoke of future retribution,
did they believe that it was only the soul which would receive it ?
It is idle to speculate on such questions, for they can but lead
us into darkness and confusion.

According to Josephus,3 the brethren were strict fatalists,
whereas the Pharisees were only partly so, and the Sadducees
not at all. If this is so, how, we may ask. did they conceive
of human responsibility and just retribution ? How, again, did
they reconcile such fatalism with belief in God ? How did they
explain the relation between matter as the principle of Evil
and God as the principle of Good ? Was there no way of
breaking the circle of determinism ? Moreover, what purpose
was served by these sacraments of baptism and communion of
which we hear ?

To questions such as these there is at present no answer.
We do not know even whether the Essenes believed in the
resurrection.4 Some of our modern historians deny it, others
affirm it, proving only that our texts are as yet inconclusive and
ambiguous. Similarly, if they believed in the return of the
dead to life, a view which is intelligible enough on the basis of
Monism, it would still be necessary to explain how such a view
could be reconciled with their dualism.

It would appear that they attached great importance to
curative magic, that is, to the mysterious properties of plants
and stones, beneficial alike to body and soul.5 It is natural to
ask whether they made use of such magical lore in attempts
to control the workings of fate, and whether they knew of any

1 Cf. Philo, Quod omnis, 12. 2 Jos., B.J., ii, 8, 11.

3 Ant., xiii, 5, 9. 4 CGLXXTO, 288, n. 1.

s Jos,, B. J., ii, 8, 6 ; CCLH, 818 ff.